Thursday, November 19, 2015

November People's Choice Award

The people have
spoken... The November People's Choice Award goes to Mark Sherstinsky for his
short play, Amber’s Outgoing, presented
as a staged reading at Monday Night PlayGround on November 9 at the Zephyr
Theatre. Congratulations, Mark!

Courtesy of Mr.
Sherstinsky, we're pleased to share the first two pages from the award-winning
script. Enjoy!

AMBER’S
OUTGOING

by
Mark Sherstinsky

Characters:

AMBERfemale, 20s to
30s, any race

ABE
LINCOLNmale, 30s to 50s, caucasian

MILLARD
FILLMOREmale, 30s to 50s, caucasian

Lights up on AMBER, who is center stage and dialing
numbers on her cell phone keypad, pausing briefly between each dial to
carefully listen to the voicemail recording menu instructions.

AMBER

(Finally
speaking into phone)Hi!...(Beat)…You've reached Amber!I’m not available to take your call right
now, but please leave a message.And
I’ll get back to you right away.Promise!...(Beat…takes phone away
from face…to self, frustrated)…Stupid! Ugh.God.So Stupid…(mocking
self)…Promise!

AMBER dials the series of numbers again to access her
outgoing voicemail recording.

AMBER
(cont)

(Deep
breath) Hi!This is Amber.I’m away from my phone right now.But if you leave me a message, I’ll call you at
a convenient time.Thanks so much.Bye…(Beat…to
self)…At a convenient time?What the
fuck!?Stupid!Stupid, Amber!Who says that?

AMBER dials again.

AMBER
(cont)

Hi.It’s Amber, and you’ve reached my cell phone.Thanks so much for calling.I can’t answer the phone right now, but if you
leave a detailed message with your name and phone number, I’ll call you back as
soon as possible.Thank you, and have a
great day!..(Beat…puts phone away, in
despair)